1 . Released on Aug 30, a three-episode web series titled Escape From the British Museum has gone viral online for its touching and innovative narrative (叙事). The series follows the journey home of a Chinese jade teapot that has come to life as a girl. She runs away from the British Museum and comes across a Chinese journalist who helps the artifact return to China. The series, created by two Chinese vloggers, aims to raise broader awareness of Chinese artifacts that were stolen or looted (掠夺) from China and are displayed or stored in the British Museum.

The video series echoes the Chinese people’s call for the British Museum to return these Chinese artifacts. However, some UK media outlets said that the video series promotes nationalism (民族主义). In fact, every country whose artifacts are displayed or stored in the British Museum wants them back. These countries, such as Greece, Nigeria and Sudan, have already issued their demands for the return of artifacts. It’s fair enough to say these demands are shared. They can correct centuries-old wrongs by having the UK return artifacts to their rightful homes.

An opinion in the UK newspaper The Telegraph said that if the British Museum gives back its collection of artifacts, then nationalism will win over humanity’s common heritage. It also said that the artifacts were “lawfully acquired (合法取得)” by the UK. By “lawfully acquired”, does the writer mean the artifacts were acquired with the “help” of machine guns and warships? Or does he mean that the cultural artifacts of African, Asian and American countries should be kept in the hands of looters, rather than in their land of origin?

1. What is the video series Escape from the British Museum mainly about?

A．Cultural artifacts looted by the UK.

B．Hidden dangers in the British Museum.

C．The arguments about the British museum.

D．The journey of a Chinese artifact coming home.

2. What does the video series aim to highlight?

A．Protests against UK’s nationalism.

B．The beauty of Chinese cultural artifacts.

C．The desire of stolen artifacts to be returned.

D．Efforts made by Chinese activists to get artifacts back.

3. What’s the author’s purpose in mentioning countries like Greece, Nigeria and Sudan?

A．To show the UK did something wrong in the past.

B．To stress China’s demands are shared by many countries.

C．To emphasize former colonized countries have grown stronger.

D．To highlight diverse artifacts are housed in the British Museum.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward the opinion in The Telegraph?

A．It’s totally unacceptable.	B．It’s a little bit reasonable.
C．It lacks enough evidence.	D．It shows the writer’s ignorance.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What has the woman prepared for the wedding?

A．The clothes.

B．The decorations.

C．The present.

2. What is unusual about the wedding?

A．It will last for two days.

B．It will have a music show.

C．It will be held in a big hotel.

3. What does the man worry about?

A．The food.

B．The site.

C．The weather.

3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What does the speaker work for?

A．A travel agency.

B．An airline.

C．An airport.

2. What is the destination of the new flight?

A．Puerto Rico.

B．Maldives.

C．England.

3. What happened to Richard Branson in 1984?

A．His flight was called off.

B．He failed to catch his flight.

C．He couldn’t find a flight to his home city.

4. What is an advantage of the new cabin?

A．Lower prices.

B．Better service.

C．Bigger seating capacity.

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What did the man do before his trip?

A．He learned to use a compass.

B．He searched the Internet for information.

C．He spent some time studying insects.

2. What should the man pay most attention to when traveling in the desert?

A．High temperatures.

B．Directions.

C．Dangerous animals.

3. What do we know about the man?

A．He has a zoologist for company.

B．He left Australia when he was young.

C．He came to research poisonous snakes.

4. Who is probably the woman?

A．A zoologist.

B．A tour guide.

C．A shop assistant.

5 . Why is the woman proud of Tony?

A．He has won a competition.

B．He has passed an exam.

C．He has been praised by his English teacher.

6 . Each year, the discovery of new shark species underlines how little we know about ocean biodiversity. In a recent report conducted by Sibert and Rubin, they reported an unexpected finding: a large-scale extinction of sharks in the pelagic ocean, the largest ecosystem on Earth, about 19 million years ago. Their discovery suggests that some extinctions in the open sea of the past may have been mysterious.

The study of Sibert and Rubin takes advantage of a system by using tiny, hard bits of shark skin and bony fish teeth that naturally fall from their bodies to the seafloor. These extremely small fossils provide a rich record of ancient oceanic sharks and their abundance for thousands of years. By studying fossils from many regions, the diversity patterns can give major insights into evolution (进化) of the open sea that would be otherwise unknown.

Sibert and Rubin quantified(量化)a past extinction of sharks, reporting a 90% decline in number and >70% drop in diversity. They found that nearer-shore sharks appear to survive, but migratory ones go extinct. The finding of this study is that sharks had undergone a widespread extinction that reorganized their communities from 16 million to 20 million years ago.

Sibert and Rubin narrowed the disappearance of sharks to a window of time under 100,000 years around 19 million years ago, but the causes of this event remain unclear. Because this time period does not stand out as a period of major climatic change, the authors do not attribute(归因于) environmental factors as an extinction driver. As for other causes, the loss of shark diversity is directly linked to overfishing.

The loss of sharks from the oceans has profound, complex, and unavoidable ecological consequences because their presence reflects the stability of marine ecosystems. Yet, one-quarter of the global diversity of sharks is currently threatened with extinction. Despite recent improvements in conservation actions, shark communities never recovered from a mysterious extinction event 19 million years ago; the ecological fate of what remains is now in our hands.

1. What did Sibert and Rubin find?

A．The negative impact of the extinction of sharks.

B．The mysterious reasons behind the disappearance of sharks.

C．The most recent advances in the study of the largest ecosystem.

D．The large-scale decline in the number of sharks about 19 million years ago.

2. How did Sibert and Rubin conduct their study?

A．By collecting and analyzing shark fossils worldwide.

B．By quantifying the movement of near-shore sharks.

C．By using a system to study the naturally fallen bits from sharks.

D．By keeping track of ancient oceanic sharks and their activities.

3. According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?

A．Overfishing is partly to blame for the loss of shark diversity.

B．The number of sharks has recovered to its previous level.

C．Scientist have figured out the exact causes of sharks’ extinction.

D．Sharks had undergone a widespread extinction due to the climate change.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Sharks: The Stories behind Them	B．Sharks: The Marine Masters
C．Sharks: Killers or Misunderstood?	D．Sharks: The Mysterious Extinction

7 . I finally climbed into bed at 1: 20 in the morning. My friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday in the basement apartment, where I lived.

Earlier in the day I had prepared for the unlikely event of a flood. We are about a third of a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and the government had sent out a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I’d placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door and put electronics on tables. “Silly bro!” My friends laughed at me for doing that, but I thought, why take a chance?

As I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of rushing water, as if I were lying beside a waterfall. When I got off the bed, I was shocked that cold water was rising fast. In darkness, I grabbed my cellphone and turned on the flashlight. When I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw water shooting through the gaps of the door.

I began to panic. I knew I had to get out—fast! In bare feet, I started to make my way to the only escape: the door that led upstairs to the main floor. Finally I made it to the door and tried several times to-pull it open even just a little bit, but the rushing water shut it again. I looked around for anything I could use to keep it open. There in the corner was a coat rack (架子). I took it and, once again, opened the door, throwing the coat rack between the door and the frame (门框) to keep the door from shutting. Finally, I managed to make a gap just wide enough to squeeze (挤) through and make it into the hallway.

I leaped on to the stairs and ran outside. I stood there in the darkness, wet through. What was once a lovely street was now a waterscape, with floating ruins instead of people and cars. The river had drowned (淹没) the neighborhood!

1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2imply?

A．Better safe than sorry.

B．It never rains but it pours.

C．A lost chance never returns.

D．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. What was the author doing when water flooded in?

A．Celebrating his birthday.

B．Sleeping in the basement.

C．Placing sandbags by the door.

D．Playing with electronic devices.

3. Which of the following might be the most difficult for the author during the escape?

A．Making his way to the door.

B．Finding a coat rack.

C．Keeping the door from shutting.

D．Squeezing through the gap.

4. How did the author feel when standing on the street?

A．Sad and shocked.

B．Annoyed and anxious.

C．Surprised and disappointed.

D．Puzzled and awkward.

8 . Computer-generated (产生) writers…writing computer-generated stories?

Sports Illustrated is the latest media company to see its good name damaged—if not totally dishonest—about who or what is writing its stories at the beginning of the artificial intelligence (AI) age. The once-powerful media company said it was firing a company that produced articles for its website written by writers who clearly don’t exist.

This week, the Futurism website reported that Sports Illustrated used stories written by writers it could not identify. Upon questioning Sports Illustrated, Futurism said all of the writers with Al-generated photos disappeared from the magazine’s website. No explanation was offered. Futurism quoted (引用) an unnamed person at the magazine who said AI was used in the creation of some content as well—“no matter how much they say that it’s not.”

Sports Illustrated said the articles in question were created by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce, which made the magazine believe that they were written and edited by humans. AdVon had its writers use a pen name, “actions we don’t agree on,” Sports Illustrated said.

Earlier this year, experiments with AI went wrong at media companies. Many companies are testing the new technology at a time when human workers fear it could cost jobs. But it doesn’t work in journalism, which builds and markets its values-based products on truth. “Although there’s nothing wrong in media companies’ experimenting with AI, the mistake is in trying to hide it,” said Tom Rosenstiel, a University of Maryland professor who teaches journalism ethnics (新闻道德). “If you want to be in the truth-telling business, you shouldn’t tell lies,” Rosenstiel said, “A secret is a form of lying.”

1. What can we learn about Sports Illustrated according to Paragraph 2?

A．It was an honest media company.	B．AI might do harm to its good name.
C．It fired a company started at an AI Age.	D．Al made it the latest technology company.

2. Why did the Futurism question Sports Illustrated?

A．Because Sports Illustrated used the same writers to create stories.

B．Because AI-generated stories were used on the magazine’s website.

C．Because Sports Illustrated quoted an unnamed person at the magazine.

D．Because AI-generated photos disappeared from the magazine’s website.

3. Which “cost” below is in the closet meaning to the “cost” in the last paragraph?

A．This dictionary cost him 10 dollars.

B．The house cost my aunt an arm and a leg.

C．Such behaviour could cost you your place in the team.

D．I didn’t get my dream sports shoes because they cost a lot.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Media Companies that Use AI Tool.

B．Writing Computer-generated Stories.

C．Al Writing Ruining Media Company’s Fame.

D．Firing Companies that Produce Al-written Stories.

9 . Do you have a story to share?

Traces welcomes article submissions (提交)from historians, genealogists (系谱学者), family history researchers, and history lovers.

·Ancest or stories

·Historical research and news

·Research tips

·Character studies

·Historical building profiles

·Antiques, collections, and preservation

·Personal heirlooms

Please note that all article submissions will be reviewed by the editor. The editor has the right to refuse submissions.

Articles are between 1,000 and 1,200 words (except personal heirloom submissions, which are 100-200 words). If imagery is available, it must be high resolution (300 dpi).

Send your submissions to eden.cox@executivemeida.com.au.

1. Who decides whether your article will be accepted?

A．History lovers.	B．Historians.
C．Genealogists.	D．Editors.

2. What submission is likely to be accepted?

A．An imagery with low resolution.	B．A research tip of around 200 words.
C．An ancestor story of around 1,100 words.	D．A personal heirloom of around 1,200 words.

3. Where is this text probably taken from?

A．A note.

B．A story.

C．An advertisement.

D．An encyclopedia.

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What language does Saint Mary’s school teach now?

A．Japanese.

B．Russian.

C．Spanish.

2. How does China help in the program?

A．By offering books.

B．By fully paying teachers.

C．By sending some teachers.

3. What is the talk mainly about?

A．Teaching rules of Saint Mary.

B．Chinese teaching in America.

C．Japanese learning in the United States.